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Industry Issues | Workers Compensation
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Balance Critical to Workers Compensation Systems
Workers compensation insurance provides medical and monetary benefits for workers who are injured or become ill on the job. State workers compensation systems are designed to balance the interests of injured employees who need medical care and replacement income and employers that seek a predictable and insurable cost structure to accommodate employees’ needs.
PCI supports proposals that are fair to all stakeholders and carry out the primary goal of workers compensation, which is to provide injured workers the best care available, so they can return to work as soon as they are able and continue to be productive members of our society.
For information on key legislative developments occurring on the federal and local level, view PCI’s Workers Compensation Insurance Bulletins.
Workers Compensation Trends
Medical Costs
Escalating medical costs, which represent nearly 60 percent of total workers compensation losses, are disrupting the balance in many workers compensation systems. As a result, states are searching for ways to control medical costs. The following factors are contributing to escalating medical costs:
- Increases in the number of treatments per claim
- Medical cost inflation
- Volume of prescriptions being written by physicians
- Over-prescribing of narcotic drugs
- An aging workforce
- Medical technology
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Legislative Trends
Workers compensation issues attracting attention in state legislatures include independent contractor/misclassification issue, firefighter and other uniformed employee presumption, and regulation and solvency of group self-insurers.
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Educational Resources
California WCAB Strikes Down Regulation
PCI Highlights Claims Practices, Fraud, Cost Drivers in Testimony Against CO Workers Compensation Bills
Links
Work Comp Analysis Group on LinkedIn
PCI Workers Compensation Compliance Charts
The National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc.
Workers Compensation Research Institute
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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